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CONTROLLED GROWTH FOR THE CITY OF Tehachapi is growing, and will continue to grow as progress marches forward. However, Controlled Growth must be at the forefront of every decision made by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. Certainly we wish much success and continued business to our several Mexican restaurants (my favorite food) but do we need yet another one, like Los Burritos or Taco Tio, merely because they might apply? We need to make sure we have jobs for our local people as well as tax revenues for the City’s infrastructure, but we also need to ensure that we not only attract the KIND of business that we would support here, but that it is LOCATED where it will do the most good for the most citizens. We cannot simply stand by and let Also, in the interests of both dollar and energy conservation for those who think they MUST drive to STAGGERING FACT If 3 car owners out of 100 left their cars at home just one day per week , we’d save more than 125 MILLION gallons of gas per year and keep about 2500 MILLION pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air. Each automobile driven to work carries an average of 1.3 persons. AAA. Posted by anonymous "How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."
Jim Richards
At last Monday’s City Council meeting a concerned citizen stated that the City Attorney, Thomas Schroeter, who has a 2,000 sq. foot office (bigger than my house) in Bakersfield, is also retained by certain other (not named) cities as their City Attorney as well. He is paid an hourly rate which he has recently lowered by $20.00 per hour in order to receive a full retirement package from the City of According to Mr. Schroeter, when asked, the city’s retirement act was amended in 1993 to allow City Attorneys to receive this benefit if the City was willing! Evidently they were. Even though he is not a City employee, if Mr. Schroeter is involved in an injury accident or has any disabling event while conducting City business, he may be entitled to a disability retirement. When he dies, his wife will continue to receive 50% of his benefits. Should he have a non-job related heart attack or otherwise be disabled he will be eligible for a lesser non job related retirement. Not bad. I wish I had such a deal. The citizen then posed the question of why our City should take on the burden of providing retirement benefits to a very successful Bakersfield attorney who is not even a City employee and why did the City Council think this was such a great idea for the best interests of the citizens of Tehachapi? The Council is mulling this over. But then, if the City can willy-nilly give away a $5,000.00 grant, at the request of Phil Wyman, for someone to teach an Indian basket weaving class (and then charge the students $240.00 each for the course) and no one even steps forward to take this class, what happens to that money? Apparently, the City of Jim Richards At yesterday's (July 16, 2008) City Council meeting I publicly requested, for the THIRD time that the speaker's podium be removed from the middle of the room and placed to one side. In it's present position, the people in the audience cannot see half of the seated Council members, but more importantly can only view THE BACK of the speaker. Given the poor acoustics and visibility, we are at a loss to either hear or see the speaker and have no idea what they are saying. As I stated, we cannot see or hear the speaker and cannot even view his/her body language and even if we are adept at lip reading, we are precluded from doing that. I then positioned myself at the side of the room as a speaker and was able to see everyone else in the entire room as they were also able to see me. I realize, the current position of the podium has probably been there for the last 50 years and the Council members are, as usual, reluctant to change and move forward, even for the betterment of the citizens. Additionally, the City is evaluating the probability of making a video of the proceedings and considering purchasing TWO video cameras. One to view the straight ahead position of the seated Council members and the other in the opposite direction to view the speaker and audience. Moving that podium and poor microphone to the SIDE of the room would open it up so that only ONE camera would be required as it could be set up near the door with a wide angle and telephoto lens. That would cut the cost in half! However, I asked the Council, since they cannot decide on this important issue, if they wanted to hire an outside consultancy firm for a fee of $100,000.00 only to have them come back in a few weeks with a report that...YES, that would be a good thing to do for the citizens in attendance at the meetings. Conversely, I asked if they wanted to instead turn it over to lawyers for a study and legal opinion. As a fellow lawyer, I informed them that, as a general rule, there are two kinds of lawyers. BAD lawyers, and GOOD lawyers. The Bad lawyers can take an issue and string it out for a long time, thus increasing their fees. On the other hand, a Good lawyer, I mean a really, really Good Lawyer, can string it out even further!! This is not brain surgery and I realize it is not a major issue with most people. But, it does represent a small improvement in our communications with City officials. If any reader here agrees with me, would you please let this be known to them? Thanks, Jim Richards A Little Daily Dark Chocolate Reduces Blood Pressure, New StudyMain Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology NewsArticle Date: 04 Jul 2007 - 0:00 PDT | email to a friend | printer friendly | view or write opinions |  A new German study suggests that eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day could lower blood pressure without increasing weight or other health risks. The study is published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Other studies have already suggested that eating large amounts of foods rich in cocoa can lower blood pressure. This is thought to be because of the polyphenols in the cocoa, a group of beleficial plant chemicals that includes flavanols. Jim Richards I was just as confused as a lot of others here about the blog deletions so I asked TN to clarify and this is their response:
The complaints were in response to individuals having the comments they placed on someone else's blog be deleted by the blog owner. In the case you mention, an individual was deleting comments other people left on their blog that they did not wish to have on their blog. This is something that all blog owners have the right to do, on the blog that they have associated their profile with.
As "their" blog, they have the authority to decide who they do, or do not, wish to comment on their blog. As a fellow blogger, you have the right to comment, or not comment, on blogs where your comments may be deleted.
So, the short version is that no one can delete a blog post you make, other than you or admin. But if you comment on someone else's blog, the person who started the blog has the right to remove comments they do not wish to appear.
So, if you want to make a comment to Sam Heath, or me, or anyone else, without giving them the power to Delete it, DON'T send it as a Comment or Reply on THEIR blog. Just post it as a new one of your own and feel free to say anything you want. NO ONE but you or the Admin can delete anything on your own blog. Whew!
Jim Richards
VOICE YOUR CONCERNS-TO THE CITY COUNCIL! Here I go again. To all those who write the blogs and just whine (anybody want some cheese with that?) and moan and complain among themselves..and us, will not accomplish anything definitive. It will not change anything in the long run. There is only ONE way to do that. ATTEND the City Council meetings and stand up and speak your piece. I urge everyone in attendance, if they agree with the speaker, STAND UP AND APPLAUD! That’s the only way to get the attention of the City Council and let them know it is not just the one opinion of the speaker, but that person is speaking for ALL of us! We are the Electorate and WE tell the Council what is important to us. I know that the 6pm Monday evenings are not the best possible times for these meetings since many of you commute to work and are busy driving on the freeways at that hour, and many others are busy cooking dinner for their families. I approached Councilperson Hand at one point and asked her to introduce a motion to change the meetings to Saturday afternoons so that more people who would wish to attend could do so. She responded that it would not be a good time for her! Humph! I guess her business interests come before the interests of the City. She is so busy she can’t even wait to cross the railroad tracks while waiting for a train to pass. Stan Beckham can’t do it all by himself. He needs our support and encouragement. Most of the others on the Council seem distant and disinterested. That’s because they’ve been there too long (Smith will mark 24 years by 2010) and need to be replaced. The interests of the Electorate must be made to be their number one priority…and they need to be reminded of that. WE NEED TO HAVE TERM LIMITS FOR THE CITY COUNCIL! If those of you who live outside the City limits think that you have no rights or concerns for attending the City Council meetings, you are very wrong. Any decision made by the City Council will ultimately affect everyone who lives within the perimeter of the greater Tehachapi area. We are all one people and must act in each other’s best interests. What affects one, affects all. So, once again, I urge everyone who possibly can, to attend every Council meeting and either write ahead to place your concern on the formal agenda, or stand up at the appropriate time and voice your oral agenda. It’s time we let them know who is the BOSS! Respectfully, Jim Richards I was pleased to attend the Badge pinning ceremony and swearing in of the new Tehachapi Police Department and welcome them all. Remember, communication is a two way street! Jim Richards |
